


you speak my language

by ElasticElla



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Episode: s02e01 This Guilty Blood, Manipulation, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 19:12:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9198941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Claryisa quick study. She picks up on the looks Izzy is sending Victor, supplements them with her own curious short glares.





	

**Author's Note:**

> basically after all of izzy's stuff in season 1, i don't really buy her going the brash words route when her brother's life is on the line  
> title from the morphine song with the same name

Clary _is_ a quick study. She picks up on the looks Izzy is sending Victor, supplements them with her own curious short glares. It isn't the game Isabelle planned on playing, but she's always been flexible. (And a part of her has always wondered about Clary, about the way her eyes lingered a little too long on Izzy's silhouette or what her artist hands would feel like in new places.)

It confuses Victor, his gaze staying out of their training area, and Izzy bites back a harsh laugh. Typical conservative Clave envoy. (Well, she'll admit he's far prettier than the _typical_.) 

.

She finds Clary lounging on her bed, playing with her stele. “Luke called, Simon's safe.” 

“Good,” Izzy says, taking a seat beside her. Clary flips over so she's on her back, her bright hair dramatic against the regulation crisp white sheets. 

“How are we supposed to he- find Jace?” 

Izzy smiles at the word change, doesn't tell Clary the institute has its own protections against spying. (They only held for shadowhunters anyways, for all they knew Victor came with a warlock in his pocket keeping tabs on all of them.)

“We'll be able to track him, they can't stay on the water forever. We just have to hope Jace isn't so lost that killing him is necessary.” 

Clary gnaws at her lip, finally saying, “I want to catch him.” 

And Isabelle smiles, a quick study indeed. 

.

It's Clary's idea that they go in together, and in fresh post-training matching-but-not-actually-matching outfits, they go to the office of revolving claim. Clary takes the lead, and Izzy isn't worried- with how they look and the way he watched before, they have this. 

He gestures to the two chairs before his desk, and Izzy shuts the door as Clary sits and begins. He doesn't even raise an eyebrow, and perhaps he isn't quite that conservative. 

“I wanted to apologize to you for my outburst earlier,” Clary says, her voice softer than Izzy's ever heard it. “My friend was very recently turned into a vampire after being kidnapped, and I worry about him outside these walls.”

Victor's fingers steeple, “I understand, tensions are high with everything going on. But I will not take any chances with those whose loyalties I have not proven yet.” 

“Of course,” Clary says, a faint blush on her cheeks, and Isabelle is impressed. She knows how to seduce and deduce and get almost any end she needs whether it be by blade or argument or experiment. But this, this was pure manipulation that sends a shiver down her back. (Manipulation is for _mundanes_ not peers.) “My friend called and said he was safe, I'd just been so wrapped up in the possibility of losing him again, for real this time…” 

She trails off, and it isn't lost on Izzy that she doesn't utter Simon's name once. It works, Victor reaching out to clasp her hand. Izzy takes the other one, not easily noticeable, only should he lean over the desk. 

“And then with Jace being-” Clary sniffs, “I just didn't want to believe it, I find out he's my brother and then- he- he-” 

“Was the traitor,” Isabelle finishes for her, and Clary squeezes her knee. It was a beautiful set up, and Victor's looking at both of them with new eyes. 

He waits a beat like a proper shadowhunter, hands back on his side of the table. “I wouldn't ask either of you to be on his retrieval team, but perhaps tomorrow the three of us could sit down for breakfast and do a psychological profile?”

Clary nods, wiping at her eyes, almost angrily. “Anything to help.” 

Izzy stands, patting Clary's shoulder protectively, “Let's get you some dinner and a hot bath, an early night and we'll be in good shape for tomorrow.” 

Clary leans into her arm, smiling up at her, “Okay.” 

Victor's mouth is a shade off unaffected, “Eight a.m.?”

“Sure,” Izzy says, and Clary stands. 

“Good.” 

.

Isabelle wasn't joking about the bath, though she did assume that Clary would be taking hers back in her room. An assumption that crumbled a few minutes in, loud knocking on the door shaking Izzy out of her head. 

“Come in,” she called, belatedly checking that there were adequate bubbles to cover her. 

“Hey,” Clary said, “um Victor saw me in the hall and I told him I was getting my pjs?” 

It takes a minute to piece it together- Victor being confused that she wasn't going to Izzy's room- and Izzy places the blame solely on the 'pajamas' Clary is wearing. It's a matching set of emerald lingerie, a black silk robe tied over it; loose now from all the fidgeting she's doing, hanging off her frame.

“Thing is hah, I apparently don't have any here so…” 

Izzy smiles, “There's some oversized shirts in my dresser's second drawer, you're welcome to them.” 

“Thanks. Also how did you get this bathroom? It's three times the size of mine!” Clary exclaims. “Like that's a small pool, not a bath.” 

Izzy laughs, fails at pushing away the bitterness, “It might have been a bribe, from back when my mother thought I was _salvageable_.” 

Clary shakes her head, “You obviously got the better half of that deal. Can I try it?” 

Izzy blinks, “Of course-”

And the rest of her words are forgotten as Clary strips in a very no-nonsense way, folding the silk robe on the counter and placing her bra and panties on top. 

Isabelle isn't a stranger to nudity, lets herself look but mostly keeps her eyes up on Clary's. She seems smaller suddenly, almost unsure. 

Izzy raises an eyebrow, “Are you coming in before or after the water cools?” 

Clary relaxes at the challenge, slips in beside her. 

“So what's tomorrow about?” Clary asks, and just like that they're back to normal. 

(It lasts until the bubbles are all popped, Clary's eyes going wide. _God Iz_ , she says, _you're so stunning_.)

Clary's all tucked into her bed, in her shirt, and Isabelle is pleased. She kisses her goodnight, soft and minty and nearly anti-climatic. They hold one another through the night, trading breaths, and none of it feels new. It's comfortable and overdue, simple and delightful. (Love's never been easy for Isabelle, any kind. But with Clary, she thinks it possible.)

Izzy wakes up a few seconds before her phone alarm, too slow to silence the obnoxious ringing. Clary groans into her chest, muttering something Izzy can't catch. 

“What was that?” Izzy asks, amused. 

Clary sighs, warm breath tickling her sternum and sits up. “I could stay in bed all day.” 

“Mhmm, we'll just tell Victor to meet us here.” 

Clary's eyes light up, “Could we?” 

Izzy laughs, “Maybe next time.” 

They get up then, have a half hour until their meeting. Izzy reminds Clary as she puts on mascara that Victor will have already read Jace's file and watched recent footage from the institute. They can't fail this or there's no way for them to help- at best they won't find Jace first because Victor has the superior resources, at worst because they're put on lock-down. But if they pass, they can inch their way onto an away team, Izzy can make sure her brother comes home alive. She can't start thinking that way, she'll be panicked instead of collected, worried instead of-

Clary is kissing up her jaw slowly, smirking when Izzy meets her eyes. “We got this.”

“Yeah,” Izzy agrees glancing in the mirror one last time. She wipes away the traces of Clary's sparkly lip-gloss, taking a few deep breaths. 

There's a knock, loud and startling, and Clary gets the door while Izzy finishes centering herself. 

“Good morning,” Victor greets, “I hope you two don't mind, I thought breakfast outside the institute would be more palatable.” 

“Oh not at all!” Clary says with a mischievous grin, “Infinitely so if Iz had been cooking.” 

“Hey,” Izzy says, lightly swatting Clary's arm as she joins them by the door. “That sounds wonderful.”

As they walk to the restaurant Victor tells them a bit about the past institutes he's worked at- London, Amsterdam, and Tokyo. Izzy knew the Clave would have sent them someone high-end after the first temp failing, but she still hadn't expected _this_ much of a rockstar. 

“You must get a ridiculous amount of betrothal offers,” Izzy says, less carefully weighed than usual in the morning air. 

Victor laughs, “I heard you Lightwoods tried to marry the last person that took over this institute.” 

Izzy's smile goes hollow, somehow she'd been so wrapped up in getting Jace back safe she hadn't thought of Alec's fragile position.

“We're a possessive bunch,” she says flippantly, arm around Clary's waist. “Can you blame us?” 

Victor's eyes glint under the sun, his gaze traveling up her arm, “Not at all.” 

The intensity burns, and thank god Clary starts talking then. “So what is up with so many shadowhunters having arranged marriages? Given the Valentine thing, I figure _I_ don't have to worry but…”

Victor nods, and the two end up talking about shadowhunter law and history until they reach the cute bistro. By then, Izzy has her game face back on in all respects, and the three take an outside table. 

Victor pulls out his moleskin almost apologetically, “Let's just get this Jace business out of the way and then we can go back to enjoying the morning.” 

Clary takes Izzy's hand in a show of support, and the questions begin. _Was Jace acting oddly the week before he left? The month? He constantly outperformed most of his peers, was he upset he didn't have a leadership position? Did he resent your parents for raising him?_

It doesn't take more than the first two for Izzy to be sure this isn't a fact finding mission at all. He's only asking questions he knows the answers to, and they give them to him. Their drinks and fruit tray come in the middle, and it feels even less like an interrogation. 

It's when Victor brings up Jace and Clary's short romance that Clary reacts for real, tears coming and excusing herself. 

Izzy snaps the moment Clary is inside the restaurant, “Did you have to bring that up?” 

Victor sighs, “I was hoping it wasn't true. Do you know which way he sees her?” 

Izzy feels sick, “ _No_. You're not sending- no.” 

His brows furrow, and then his eyes pop open a moment later. “Ah, that's not what I meant. I was thinking bait.” 

Izzy taps her chin for show, trying to contain herself. If Clary was playing bait then Jace was in the clear. He'd follow her right into a tranq- he'd be pissed at Izzy for sure, he'd figure it out. But he'd be _alive_. 

“Yeah, that would work.” 

“And then there's the question of your loyalty to the Clave,” Victor muses, sipping his cup of coffee. 

Izzy watches his tongue chase a stray droplet, not sure and uncaring if it was choreographed or not. “Fire away.” 

“You interrupted the questioning of a suspected Valentine supporter, and attacked your fellow shadowhunters to free him,” Victor says. 

“Anyone with half a brain knew Meliorn wasn't a supporter. Besides Valentine pushing for the genocide of his entire species, dead faerie scouts were found mere days before. The so-called questioning was going to be a torture session that may or may not have ended in his death. I do not condone murder, nor breaking the accords over flimsy theories.”

There's an almost-smile curling on Victor's lips, and Clary's hand is on her shoulder. 

“Izzy's right, and none of the shadowhunters were hurt,” she says, sitting back down. 

“Officially I can't condone the actions you took,” he says. 

“Unofficially?” Clary asks with a grin. 

“Creative,” he grants with an indulgent smile, “and impressive, getting different downworlder factions to work together.”

Clary preens, and Victor checks his phone. 

Standing, he says, “Unfortunately I have to go back, the food is paid for- you two at least should enjoy it.” 

Clary smiles up at him, “Thanks. We should do this again.” 

Victor's eyebrows move too quickly to hide his surprise, and Izzy says, “Just think about it, you don't have to answer now.”

“Tell Clary what we discussed,” he says. “Good day.” 

Victor leaves as a tray of pastries comes out, and Izzy's definitely not going anywhere before trying a few of the miniature cupcakes. 

“What'd you two discuss?” Clary asks through a crumbling coffeecake. 

“He wants to use you as bait to get Jace back. You wouldn't be in any danger or-”

“Yes.” 

Izzy smiles, biting into the chocolate chip one first. Everything had gone well, far too well and too easy. Victor must know what they were doing, and for some reason he was letting them do it. He didn't ask for anything new, so it wasn't information. Izzy just needed to figure out what it was before they found Jace. 

“That was a pretty good first date,” Clary suddenly says, and Izzy chokes on her tea. 

“What?” she asks after wiping her mouth. 

Clary shrugs, “He brought us to a restaurant, paid for our food, and engaged in some unnecessary conversation. That's totally a date for shadowhunters right?” 

Izzy exhales slowly, “Yeah.”


End file.
